


eureka

by myrosebudboy



Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 03:13:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8473270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myrosebudboy/pseuds/myrosebudboy
Summary: "everything is starting to make sense"





	

“I hate my roommate,” Simon grouches, dropping down onto the seat beside Penelope and propping up his chin on one hand.

Penny reaches across him for a slice of toast. “Hello to you, too.”

Simon starts. “Oh. Sorry. Morning.”

She waves her butter knife at him. “It’s fine. What’s wrong with your roommate?”

“He - he - he’s mad! He’s insane. He thinks he’s better than everyone else. He’s so posh and pretentious - he’s been putting random spells on my belongings and me to mess with me. I can’t believe the Crucible put me with him. Why him, of all people? I’d even pick rooming with Gareth over him.”

She lets out a disbelieving huff. “I’ll bet your roommate isn’t anywhere as bad as mine.” The thought of glitter scattered across their floor and Trixie’s high-pitched giggle makes her shudder.

Simon lets out another defeated groan. “It’s ridiculous. He’s absolutely insufferable. Help me, Penny.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. Curse him. Teach me how to punch him in the face.”

“You can’t punch him in your room.”

“Anaethema,” they say simultaneously, her matter-of-factly, him wearily. Simon stares moodily at his plate.

“He can’t be that bad,” she tries.

“Pass me the butter,” Simon sighs, pulling the basket of toast towards him. “I’m going to need all of it. I’m going to drown my frustrations in beautiful buttery goodness.”

“Thousands of calories.”

He shrugs, picking up the butter knife and wielding it determinedly. “I don’t care.”

She frowns. “Simon, you can’t eat all the butter.”

“Watch me.”

-

_“He spelled my laptop shut.”_

Her head snaps up as she registers what he’s said. Magic, with technology involved - Baz Pitch, doing advanced magic? Her competitive edge sparks, and her mind starts spinning, trying to figure it out.

On the outside, she says calmly, “Simon, just because he shut your laptop doesn’t mean he’s out to get you. Or kill you. Or whatever you think he’s up to.”

Simon frowns. “There’s no evidence to suggest otherwise.”

She’s already far away, thinking hard about technological magic. “You’re being paranoid.”

Simon says something else, but she doesn’t hear it.

-

“What’s your problem, anyway?” The words are out of her mouth before she can stop herself.

Baz looks utterly unaffected. “How cryptic. What about my problem?”

She holds his stare, eyes narrowed. “What do you have against Simon? Every time I see you in the same room as him, you’re always watching him. And I’d like to think of myself as a rather level-headed person, but I’m starting to think Simon’s wild theories have some truth to them.”

“None of your business, Bunce,” he snaps, and he stalks away stiffly.

-

It goes on like this throughout their time at Watford, Baz sneering, Simon growling, and Penny somehow caught up in the middle even though she isn’t really involved at all. She learns that Baz’s smirk twists into an ugly sneer when Simon brings up anything about the Pitch family or Baz’s grades. She sees how Simon punches the wall after Baz’s comment about Simon’s parents is carelessly thrown out, sharp as broken glass. She watches actual broken glass spill its way across the floor of Simon’s dorm, because he’s punched the window and his hand is bleeding. Once, she finds Baz in the room, broken glass shattered everywhere, too. The similarity is that she heals both. The difference is she talks to Simon, while she sits in silence with Baz, and leaves right after she’s done.

It’s cold, maybe, but Penny can’t bring herself to speak.

-

Things start to change in eighth year, Penny notices. Baz looks more tired than anything else, even for months after he comes back to school. Simon stops telling her about Baz trying to plot against him. Baz stops throwing insults at Simon in the dining hall. Simon stops responding. Sometimes she catches glances between them, from Baz when Simon’s not looking, and from Simon when Baz isn’t looking.

Penny’s not quite sure if she’d rather be stuck in between the shouting or the silence.

Simon gets out of the car in the middle of their trip back from Baz’s house and tells them he’s going back to Baz. Penny and Agatha are so, so confused, with both of them talking over each other until both are shouting to be heard, and Simon just closes the door, waves, and starts trudging back.

Agatha suddenly stops, a look of realisation dawning on her face. She turns to Penny. “Let’s go.”

Penny frowns. “What?”

Agatha waves a hand at the road. “Come on.”

Penny is nonplussed, but she pushes her foot down on the gas pedal anyway.

-

Baz cradles Simon in his arms, and Simon is sobbing, sobbing, sobbing, and Baz is clutching him like he’s the only thing in the world.

“I killed him,” Simon gasps.

“It’s going to be okay.” Baz wraps him in a tight hug. “It’s all right, love,” and Baz’s voice is trembling, too, but he’s holding Simon to him, and his hands are steady and strong.

The penny finally drops.

_Everything is starting to make sense._

**Author's Note:**

> did u like my pun ayy


End file.
